


Calm During the Storm

by BuddyTheMeanPeacock



Series: Drabbles and Oneshots (DimiClaude) [29]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: M/M, Marianne makes a very brief appearance, Post-Timeskip | War Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), get ready for "Dimitri calms down angry Claude", you've heard of "Claude calms down angry Dimitri"
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 10:35:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29452428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BuddyTheMeanPeacock/pseuds/BuddyTheMeanPeacock
Summary: "My apologies," Claude... says... "but the tea may be a little cold. I hope you can forgive me for that."
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Claude von Riegan
Series: Drabbles and Oneshots (DimiClaude) [29]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1561504
Comments: 6
Kudos: 90





	Calm During the Storm

_Dong_

_Dong_

_Dong_

…The third bell passed midday. It was time for tea.

It was almost automatic, how Dimitri’s body turned and moved, leaving the cathedral and towards the far distance to the dormitories. He will technically be late, as he tends to be; without the monastery’s ringing chimes it was difficult to keep track of the time, for him. But in relation to when he tends to leave, he will be on time. Little distracts him on the way to meet with Claude, and so the loss in time is not usually so drastic.

He feels it when he leaves the building, however. Something… different.

This difference is subtle, at first, merely a nagging thought tickling the recesses of his mind. The air was that touch more still, the people that little bit more quiet, wary and nervous. Dimitri was not unfamiliar with such behavior, such an atmosphere, in his time in the monastery, but _this_ … caught his attention.

And it continued to do so. As he grew closer and closer to his destination the winds seemed to grow more and more stagnant, those around him were more… off. He steps on a stray branch, its _snap_ echoing more than it ought, and he catches a soldier jump at the sudden noise. 

It was as though everyone were… bracing themselves. Expecting something catastrophic to befall them, readying themselves for the impact. How strange. He was given no report that would justify the need for such reactions. If anything, the recent assault on Fort Merceus was an astounding success, with the Almyran forces bringing more troops and supplies, another step closer to downing _her_. It is something he should bring to Claude’s attention-

“U-Um, wait!”

Five years ago, if someone were to tell Dimitri that soft-spoken, introverted Marianne would step in front of one known as he is known for any reason, Dimitri would have asked them the reason for telling such obvious tall tales to one as old as he was. For such a tall tale he looks down at it now, the woman’s brown eyes looking up at his one with worry as she stands in front of the second floor dormitory’s entrance. 

At his silence Marianne takes a breath, then continues. “I… I just thought it was for the best to… warn you…”

 _Warn?_ “Of what?”

She flinches, slightly, at his question, but nods. “I-I’m not sure what happened, um... Hilda w-won’t tell me, but… Claude is… mad.”

...What?

Claude… mad? That was… of course it was possible, yes, but… 

“I… can’t stop you, if you want to still visit him,” she looks down now, uncertainty replacing courage, “but… um… I-I just…”

“Move.” 

She jumps, much harsher than before, her shoulders seemingly instinctively drawing inwards. 

Dimitri adds, too late. “Please.”

...A bit of tension leaves her hunched posture as she steps from in front of him.

“...Thank you,” he mutters, belatedly. He moves on before he could see or hear her response.

...He feels it heavier now.

The stillness refuses to let him take easy breaths, as though time itself has stopped around him. He hears no footsteps in the dorms to his side, sees no person roam the halls as he steps closer to Claude’s room. His thoughts, usually loud with voices unbound and innumerable, held one sole thing in its grasp:

_Claude is mad._

Claude was one of the calmest people Dimitri has ever known. Or, not so much _calm_ as much as… controlled. Yes, that was more suitable; how rarely Claude allows his emotions to sway him is one of the many commendable traits Dimitri has always admired. ...Has he… ever _seen_ Claude get angry? Surely he must have… but nothing comes to mind, nothing so _encompassing_ as this, and he is sure most others would share in his experience.

Dimitri is in front of the door, and Claude behind it. Claude is… formidable, as an opponent both on the field and off. But he is not someone to fear - or, not one to let fear uncross their paths, not when he had not let such things stop him from speaking with a beast such as Dimitri as though they were still friends.

He opens the door.

Claude, his back perfectly straight, stops in his writing. He gently sets down his quill and turns to meet Dimitri. 

Dimitri held back the urge to swallow.

Claude’s verdant gaze was piercing as he smiled. “Ah, Dimitri,” he says calmly. He rises smoothly from his seat at the desk and glides his hand towards the one sitting near the table in the middle of the room. “Please, sit.”

Claude walks to his seat, his gait even, and stands next to it, waiting for Dimitri to take his own seat first. He… does, after a moment. Claude joins him when he does. 

“My apologies,” Claude… says… ”but the tea may be a little cold. I hope you can forgive me for that.”

…

...When Dimitri was young, he was given numerous etiquette mentors. Growing up he followed and absorbed the lessons as he should have, despite never quite understanding the point of such behaviors. One day, on a day where it had not gone so well, he had asked plainly why it ever came to be to act so strangely. He never forgot the answer he was given:

_“One of our stations must be expected to be in control, Your Highness. These lessons are to teach you the fundamentals of such control.”_

It was also, likely, to separate the nobility from the commonfolk in yet another way. But watching Claude now, so graceful in so unnatural a way, he cannot help but think of that answer given to him so long ago. Cannot help but realize, now, how much he appreciated Claude’s casual nature when faced with this unsettling alternative. And he cannot help but see how angered Claude must have been - still is - for him to act as he is now.

“...It is fine,” he finally replies, taking hold of the fragile cup and sipping the cold, tasteless tea.

…

...

The quiet was suffocating; where Dimitri once, not an hour ago, could easily claim he preferred to noise he now craves for something, _anything_ to be rid of it. Claude, however, seems to live fine in this room void of sound, his movements too elegant for Dimitri's sight to register as something truly happening in front of him. Unease dripped down his spine, but he dare not be the one to speak.

…

…

“...I know,’ Claude says, finally breaking the unbearable silence, “that I’m… not being the best conversation partner, right now. You can leave if you want; I won’t be bothered.”

Claude's voice, stilted though it was, brought a semblance of peace back to Dimitri. He let the words sit, for a moment, and readily comes to a decision: whether they were a lie or the truth mattered not, since _Dimitri_ would be greatly bothered simply leaving Claude to stew here alone. He will not allow it, and he will cut to the chase:

“You are upset.”

A breath’s life, and then Claude chuckles mirthlessly. And then his smile drops.

“...Yeah,” he says quietly. “I am.”

...Dimitri thought… that he knew, that Claude is leading two armies. Is _capable_ of such a feat. But when he is usually so jovial, putting up such a convincing front of ease, it was easy to have that slip Dimitri’s mind. He now _knows_ that he is in front of a man able to do such a daunting task with skill to spare. One simple downturn of the lips and Dimitri _felt_ the anger, the disappointment, swelling around the room akin to a brewing windstorm. 

He takes another sip of ash. Then, “What happened?”

Another brief moment of silence. Eventually Claude sighs. “Nothing,” he breathes out. “I had just… expected too much too soon out of the wrong people. It spoiled my mood, is all.”

Nonsense. “That does not sound like nothing to me.”

Not with how it made Claude like _this_. _Nothing_ could not make a man such as Claude scrabbling for some semblance of control over himself.

Claude looks away from him then. A small grimace leaks out on his features as he mutters so, so quietly past gritted teeth:

_“It isn’t.”_

…

Dimitri rose from his seat.

That caught Claude’s attention, his surprised gaze turning back towards him as Dimitri strode to his side of the table. “Do you need somethi-”

Dimitri put forth his hand, cutting the duke off. “I’m going off to ride. Will you join me?”

He doesn’t know where the confidence springs forth from, the words leaving him as though he hasn’t neglected the saddle for the past five years. But he remembers, back in peaceful times, when the two of them would ride around Garreg Mach as two naughty boys breaking curfew, Dimtiri drunk off of Claude’s mischievous grin and soulful laughter. The wind howling through his hair, the stamp of the horse’s hooves and Claude’s goading for a race blotting out the worries that plagued. 

Perhaps he can give something similar to Claude, now.

The man looks at the hand outstretched before him… and he smiles, slightly and genuinely, as he takes it, the storm still here though the worst now dissipated.

“Sure, Your Princeliness.”

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Valentines? lmaooo
> 
> Some things were said and Claude is """upset""". Luckily Dimitri Alexandre "No Actual Self-Preservation or Social Skills" Blaiddyd is here to help


End file.
